Release Date: June 2nd, 2020

Genre(s): Adult Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction

Publisher: Riverhead Books

Pages: 343

Rating: 

“You can escape a town, but you cannot escape blood. Somehow, the Vignes twins believed themselves capable of both.”

The Vanishing Half is a newly-released literary fiction novel that features identical twin sisters Stella and Desiree and how growing up in a small town in America’s South shaped each of them. After growing up in Mallard, a town consisting mostly of light-skinned black people, Stella and Desiree leave for a year – and after that, their lives drastically change. While Desiree returns to Mallard and marries a dark-skinned man, Stella marries a white man and keeps her family from her true identity and her past. This is the story of two sisters that live in completely different worlds – one black, and one white.

Review

The Vanishing Half gave me the kind of reading experience where I wanted to know what happens, but at the same time, I wanted to read slowly and be immersed in the story longer. It’s also the kind of book where I wanted to keep reading so badly, despite the need for sleep.

This story begins with Stella’s return to Mallard, and from there, travels back in time to the sisters’ childhood and experiences growing up in Mallard. Already, the author raised so many questions that I was curious to know about. Why did they separate? Why did Stella return? And with each chapter, the author introduces as many new questions as there are answers provided. This is a formula that is difficult to execute (especially in a book so character-based) but Bennett was able to do so perfectly. Throughout The Vanishing Half, there was never a lack of curiosity in my mind as I couldn’t let myself wait for the resolution.

Additionally, there were so many topics covered in The Vanishing Half that I wasn’t expecting based on the synopsis, but was pleasantly surprised by. This is an inter-generational story; so much of the second half explores the changing of ideas and cultures over time and how this impacts the parent-child relationships in this book. There’s also the discussion of women in education and work, and how the sisters’ education and work experiences (or a lack of opportunity for) impacts their desires for their own children. This is all on top of the main idea of how the sisters’ experiences in Mallard led to very different lives, and how their experiences are shaped in their own families. You could literally talk about this book for hours and hours, and I would be more than happy to.

The characters in The Vanishing Half are all written so beautifully, which is what makes the story more than anything. Each character, whether a main character or secondary character, brings so much dimension into the story. You get to delve into each of their motivations, desires, and imperfections, as well as how their surroundings shaped them.

Even some story elements that aren’t personal preferences of mine just worked in this book. Multiple-timelines don’t always work for me, whether it’s written in a way that’s confusing or just doesn’t make sense for the story that’s written. But in The Vanishing Half, it’s used in a way that’s more intriguing for readers and introduces more questions about the story and characters. And admittedly, this was an element that I was worried about when I first picked it up. But it worked so well in this case that I now know what it looks like when it’s done well – so if you have similar preferences, you may like the execution much better here.

The Vanishing Half is an incredible story that explores themes of race and identity, family ties, inter-generational conflict, and so much more. It is a beautifully-written novel that I highly recommend you pick up. I will definitely be reading more of Bennett’s works in the future.